Pretzels and Beer — a winning combination

A little driving. A little Beer. It’s never a good idea to combine the two.

But in the context of New Berlin-Waverly-Franklin football, a little Beer can be a refreshing way to finish off a drive — or a pesky opponent, for that matter.

Senior running back Konner Beer had a pair of touchdown bursts Saturday, including a 30-yard breakaway in the final two minutes to clinch the Pretzels’ 31-21 victory over Prairie State Conference rival Williamsville.

Though used in moderation (11 carries), Beer finished with 85 yards rushing. His game-icing touchdown with 1:52 remaining was only his second rush of the second half, and he owed its success to senior fullback Aaron Crossin, who with his legs and shoulders administered a steady pounding on the Bullets’ defense.

Crossin himself finished with 29 carries for 110 yards and a pair of short scoring plunges.

“We were in the huddle, and one of the linemen goes, ‘Hey, that four-hole (a seam provided by the Pretzels’ wishbone attack) is wide open,’” said Beer. “They were keying on (Crossin) right up the middle, since we’d just given him the ball five times in a row. So I got the ball and hit the four-hole and just tried to make something happen.”

With time running out already on Williamsville (1-4), a first down probably would have been enough to secure victory. But the opening was so big that Beer was able to score and leave no doubt about the outcome.

Half of Williamsville’s defense had tackled Crossin.

“I faked my butt off on that play,” Crossin said. “I took the (fake handoff), they bit on it, and (Beer) broke wide open for the touchdown.”

With senior Corey Simpson supplying 84 more yards on five carries, and quarterback Kody Kirkpatrick adding 37 more, the Pretzels (2-3) chewed up yardage all day, finishing with 325 yards rushing on 58 attempts.

“Our fullback (Crossin) has been good all year long, but boy, now our halfbacks, (Beer) and (Simpson), they both ran very well today,” said New Berlin head coach Jeff Harres. “Even our quarterback, Kirkpatrick, picked up some key first downs for us around the corner. If we get things going, our offense is pretty tough to stop.”

Williamsville head coach Aaron Kunz said his squad fell into lapses of nonchalant, unfocused play that probably cost them the win.

“Teams are too good in the conference this year for us to have a lapse,” said Kunz. “I mean, there were times on defense today when we weren’t even moving. You can’t give a good team seven minutes off and expect to win.”

The Bullets had led in the first half by as much as 14-6, after a nifty 90-yard punt return by Earl Hollingshead and then an eight-yard touchdown strike from quarterback Josh Gentile to John Gerding. Nick Kamrath kicked the PAT following both scores.

New Berlin had scored first, with Crossin’s three-yard run finishing off the Pretzels’ 12-play, 75-yard opening march. Williamsville’s back-to-back scores in the second quarter threatened to change the day’s momentum for good.

Until senior Austin Neuman got it back with a 50-yard return of the ensuing kickoff. That sparked a nine-play, 41-yard drive that ended with Beer breaking out of a crowd and running 16 yards to paydirt on a misdirection handoff. It trimmed the Bullets’ brief lead to 14-12, after a failed two-point conversion.

After that, Williamsville’s offense sputtered badly, losing a total of 21 yards on its next two series while the Pretzels drove to two more touchdowns: a one-yard Crossin run and then, with just four seconds remaining in the half, a 14-yard scoring toss from Kirkpatrick to Kyle Crow, making it 24-14 at the break.

The Bullets finished with just 221 total yards, only 84 of them on the ground, as a result of defensive adjustments by the Pretzels.

“We were able to stymie their running game a little bit and force them into some obvious passing situations,” said Harres. “That was a key.”

Still, after receiving the second-half kickoff, Williamsville immediately moved 55 yards in 12 plays, converting two fourth downs on the way to a shot put-style, two-yard scoring toss from Gentile to Travis Combs. Kamrath’s third PAT of the afternoon brought the Bullets to within 24-21, with plenty of game still to go.

Both teams played better defense for most of the second half. New Berlin’s first three possessions of the half gained yardage, but were stopped on down, by a Kirkpatrick fumble (recovered by the Bullets’ Colton Meyers) and by a quarterback sack, leading to a punt.

Williamsville fared no better. The Bullets were forced to punt away their next two drives. But on the second punt attempt, from fourth-and-three at the New Berlin 40, the Bullets attempted a trick play. The direct snap went to Travis Combs, who surged forward for two yards, but was stopped one yard short.

“We walked up to the line,” said Kunz of the fake punt attempt. “It looked open. And then right before the snap, the kid moved. I mean, if we didn’t like the play, we were going to call a timeout and run our regular offense. But we went to the line, we liked it, we liked it, we liked it, and then the kid (moved) and then it was too late.”

Later, Kirkpatrick intercepted a Gentile pass at midfield with 3:52 to play. That set up the Pretzels’ clinching touchdown drive

PHOTO: Pretzels Konner Beer and Jesse Hubbard wrap up Williamsville’s Josh Gentile on a quarterback keeper Saturday in the second quarter in New Berlin. More photos